By any measure Folkestone Sea Sauna has been a success. Our members have become a close-knit community, we have a large waiting list of people keen to be a part of it and we enjoy a healthy bank balance that can do more than simply cover our running costs.
So, is that it then? Do we consider that we’ve achieved what we set out to do, or do we now have an opportunity to grow, to use the money that we’ve collected in some positive way, or to share what we’ve learnt with others and help them to do the same?
These were the questions that the committee sought to explore as we met up with workshop facilitator, Wolfgang Wopperer, at the Rowing Club on a Saturday morning early in February. Wolfgang is a long-term friend of committee member Hanna and has, for many years, worked with organisations to help them to think about where they are on their journey so that they can map a strategic direction for their future.
After some initial introductions Wolfgang outlined a plan for the day which involved a series of group exercises. Through these exercises the committee was able to reflect on the steps we’ve taken to develop the sauna into what it is today, to think through the values on which our sauna has been built, and to consider our sauna’s meaning given a local community and wider societal context.
Using the exercises and conversations the committee was able to appreciate how far we have come and to articulate why we’ve found being involved in this project to be worthwhile. We were able to identify that our passion for Folkestone Sea Sauna is rooted in a shared belief in health and wellbeing, a love of the environment and the sea, and a valuing of community over profit. For me personally, the sessions underlined the fact that since no one is benefiting financially from the sauna, our members are not consumers of a service, but stakeholders in it. In a place where there are several other, very lovely, saunas to choose from, this really does make what we have unique.
Now that we’ve taken time to think through what we feel is fundamental about our sauna, the committee plans to write a short document outlining our purpose, vision and values. We can then ensure that these inform any decisions that are made about the future of what has been built.
In terms of the future there is, of course, the option of extending the sauna that we have on its current site, of finding an alternative site on which we can build a ‘sister sauna’ or providing seed funding and the know-how to others to repeat what we have done. Similarly we could provide funding for similar community projects which align with our values. All of these possibilities exist among others, but it would seem important that as funders and stakeholders of this project, you get to have a say too. Perhaps this means that in the future we’ll need to find a way of collecting your thoughts and ideas, or perhaps our members have some particular skills that they’d be keen to share to make something bigger out of this great thing that we have together. Whatever happens I’m very proud and excited to be part of it.
Toby